Everyone is different, and we all have different personalities. I am continually amazed at what drives other people.
I worked with a broker 13 years ago who was undoubtedly the messiest man I had ever worked with. The filing system he had was a stack on his desk for each deal he was working on; that stack stayed on his desk until the transaction closed. I have a good friend that is an LA attorney, and he is the same way. His office is a complete and total disaster. Both of these guys were successful and the clutter didn’t faze them at all.
I am on the opposite end of that spectrum because everything I do has to be organized from the car to the closet to the office to my email inbox. It has to be clean and organized. I worked with a guy once that was a commercial contractor. When I saw his office, I made a decision that’s how I wanted to be. His desk literally did not have anything on it. Just the clean wood top. Every deal has its own file, and he would work on one file at a time and once completed, he would put the file away. Since then, I have always had every deal in its own file and off of my desk.
There is no right or wrong way to do things because everyone is different. For me, getting an area like a garage cleaned up and organized actually helps me think clearer; getting my office straight and in order helps me sell better. For me it is almost spiritual, but not to the point of compulsion.
I will say that when I was in the Marines, they didn’t give us the option of deciding how we liked things. Ha. No, we were told how to do everything down to how to fold our underwear. Then, were inspected to make sure we did it just like they told us. You don’t see sloppy Marines. I guess I did learn some things while I was in.
So, try it both ways and then decide for yourself which way you like it best. See how you think better. In regards to organization, don’t just keep doing things the same way without trying it another way. You may surprise yourself and realize that the environment you are in may help you think clearer or trigger a better thought process. It is all opinions and again, there is not a wrong way or a right way. KT